Results for "Los Angeles"

Gary Urwin

The Gary Urwin Jazz Orchestra is an eighteen-piece “big band” jazz group in Los Angeles that came into being in 1997, comprised of hand-picked players with whom leader Gary Urwin had been associated over the years as an arranger and trumpet player. Gary's role is to arrange or compose all the music we do, and to lead the band when we perform or record. With the active support of Business Manager and co-producer Pat Longo, we began work on our first CD ("Perspectives"), which debuted on Sea Breeze Records in 2000. Word of mouth spread quickly, and the band’s activities grew into enthusiastically-received live appearances, a follow-up Sea Breeze CD ("Living in the Moment") in 2003 reflecting the band’s development and growth, and a third CD currently in the works. The band is committed to using familiar tools in a fresh way to stretch the idiom, while always swinging and remaining true to the jazz roots of the music. The band has been referred to as “A veritable who’s who among the Los Angeles area’s most accomplished studio and big-band artists.” It enjoys the talents of well known Los Angeles jazz personalities Pete Christlieb, Wayne Bergeron, Bobby Shew, Kim Richmond, Charlie Loper, Alex Iles, Christian Jacob, Trey Henry, Ron King, Ralph Razze and many others.

Phil Ranelin

Born: May 25, 1939

Phillip Arthur Ranelin was born in Indianapolis, Indiana where he grew up under the influence of J.J. Johnson, Wes Montgomery, Earmon Hubbard, Pookie Johnson, Russell Webster, Willis Kirk, Jimmy Coe and Melvin Rhyne. Ranelin is loved and respected around the globe as a master trombonist of the J.J. Johnson tradition, former Freddie Hubbard sideman and as co-founder of Detroit’s famed TRIBE Records. Ranelin has studied and played with some of the most highly respected Jazz and classical educators in the business, including professors David N. Baker, Larry Ridley, Nathan Davis, Bunky Green, Dr

Dave Black

Born: January 23, 1928

Award-winning percussionist/composer Dave Black received his Bachelor of Music in percussion performance from California State University, Northridge. While at Northridge, he studied with notable teachers and performers such as Louie Bellson, Joel Leach, Ed Shaughnessy, Steve Schaeffer, Jerry Steinholtz and Nick Ceroli. He has traveled around the world with a variety of entertainers and shows, performing and recording with such artists as Alan King, Robert Merrill, June Allyson, Anita O'Day, Pete Jolly, Frankie Capp, Gordon Brisker, Kim Richmond, Victor Lewis, Jerry Hey and Steve Huffsteter. A prolific composer and arranger, more than 60 of his compositions and arrangements have been published by Alfred Music, Barnhouse, CPP/Belwin, TRN, Highland/Etling and Warner Brothers, and many of those have been recorded

Chuck Berghofer

Born: June 14, 1937

Chuck Berghofer was a part of the Abnuceals Emuukha Electric Symphony Orchestra around 1967 when Frank Zappa recorded the orchestral parts for Lumpy Gravy. Berghofer provided bass, also in 1972 with Van Dyke Parks Discover America.

Mark Winkler

Mark Winkler is a platinum award winning singer/lyricist who has had over 200 of his songs recorded and/or sung by such artists as Dianne Reeves, Randy Crawford, Liza Minnelli, Bob Dorough, Jackie Ryan, Dee Dee Bridgewater, Lea Di Lauria and Britain’s Claire Martin. He also has charted high on the Jazz Week charts with his last 4 vocal releases. He was also included as a 2014 ”Rising Star” Male Jazz Vocalist in Downbeat Magazine.

He will be releasing his new CD “Jazz and Other Four Letter Words in August 2015. After his last two recordings that were tributes to Laura Nyro and the musicians of the 50s West Coast Sound, this CD once again finds Mark mixing his own originals with songs by the likes of Paul Simon, Dave Frishberg and Bob Dorough and Rodgers and Hart. He is once again joined on this recording by Cheryl Bentyne for two songs, the duo released the highly regarded ‘West Cost Cool” CD in 2013. For his new project, he has an all-star cast of musicians headed by John Clayton, Jeff Hamilton, Larry Koonse, Jamieson Trotter , Pat Kelley, Mike Shapiro, Dan Lutz and Bob Sheppard.

Anthony Wilson

Born: May 9, 1968

Anthony Wilson is a guitarist and composer known for a nuanced body of work that moves fluidly across genres. Wilson has long been curious about blurring borders and finding the place where where style and possibility intersect. Wilson’s first recording— Anthony Wilson (1997) — featured a nine-piece “little big band” and garnered a Grammy nomination for Best Large Ensemble Jazz Recording. It was followed by Goat Hill Junket (1998), and Adult Themes (2000). His fourth recording with the nonet, Power of Nine (2006) was included in the New Yorker’s roundup of that year’s top-ten jazz albums

Steve Tyrell

Born: December 19, 1944

Grammy Award-winning vocalist Steve Tyrell is truly a renaissance man. In his 4 decades in the music business he has achieved great success as an artist, producer, songwriter, music supervisor and performer. He is a Grammy winning producer and a two time Emmy nominee. His productions have won numerous Grammys and have been nominated for Academy and Golden Globe Awards as well. With his breakthrough performances in “Father of the Bride” and “Father of the Bride II,” Steve Tyrell reinvented and re-popularized classic pop standards for a modern audience. With the grit and soul of a lifetime producing hits for artists ranging from Linda Rondstadt & Diana Ross to 2005’s Grammy-winner Rod Stewart (“Stardust…Vol

Lee Ritenour

Born: January 11, 1952

For Lee Ritenour, there aren’t many ‘firsts’ left to achieve. During his dazzling five-decade career, the fabled LA guitarist has taken his music to the outer limits, alighting on every genre and occupying every position in the rock ‘n’ roll firmament. He’s been an enfant terrible of ’70s fusion, a crossover star of the ’80s pop chart, an honorary exponent of Brazilian jazz, and the fingers behind ’90s supergroup, Fourplay. Ritenour’s accolades include: 45 albums, Grammy award winner, plus 16 Grammy nominations, Alumnus of the year at USC, Los Angeles’ Jazz Society Honoree (2019), plus thousands of sessions with legends such as Frank Sinatra, Pink Floyd, B.B. King, Tony Bennett, among others.

Vince Mendoza

Born: November 17, 1961

8 Time Grammy award winning composer-arranger Vince Mendoza has been at the forefront of the jazz and contemporary music scene as a composer, conductor and recording artist for the last 30 years. He has written scores of compositions and arrangements for big band, chamber and symphonic settings while his jazz composing credits read like a “who's who” of the best modern instrumentalists and singers in the world today.  

Mendoza's arranging has appeared on many critically acclaimed projects that include dozens of albums with song writing legends and vocalists such as Björk, Gregory Porter, Chaka Khan, Elvis Costello, Alejandro Sanz, Al Jarreau, Diana Krall, Melody Gardot, Sting and Joni Mitchell.  He has 8 Grammy awards and 38 nominations.

Big Jay McNeely

Born: April 29, 1927

Big Jay McNeely brought the tenor sax to prominence in the golden age of R&B, known as the “King of the Honkers,” for his wild style and outrageous showmanship.. Tenor saxophonist Cecil "Big Jay" McNeely was born in Watts, California, on April 29, 1927, he formed his own band with jazz legends Sonny Criss (alto sax) and Hampton Hawes (piano) while still in high school. But in late 1948, when he was asked to record for Savoy Records, he abandoned jazz for something more raucous and struck paydirt when his second release, a honked-up instrumental called "Deacon's Hop," went to #1 on the national R&B charts in February 1949